This discovery made it appear to Dory that the burglars were professional gentlemen of the housebreaking order, and probably they did not belong anywhere in the vicinity of Genverres. This demonstration added something to the inquirer's stock of information; but it was of no especial value, since the hearing of the voice in the woods was more tangible evidence. No end of questions which he could not answer flashed through Dory's mind after his match had burned out, and he had established to his own satisfaction the professional character of the operators. They were somewhere within a half a mile of him; and he wanted to know whether they intended to take a boat at Kingsland Bay, or escape by the road, which would take them to Burlington if they followed it long enough. Of course he could not answer either of these important questions. The peril of the situation, in view of the revolvers, and the lack of knowledge, made it very difficult for him to determine what to do. He ended by deciding to do nothing beyond lying in wait for the marauders. He returned very cautiously to the junction of the roads again. There he seated himself on the top-rail of a fence, and--waited. That was all he could do, though the inactivity to which he was condemned made him as impatient as a chained mastiff. He had seen the clock in the lower hall of the dormitory, and he knew that the explosion had occurred at about three o'clock. At least half an hour--and he thought it was nearer a full hour--had since elapsed. It would be daylight within an hour, though it was a very dark morning, and with the light he could act more intelligently. No sound came from the direction of the bay, and it occurred to Dory that the marauders might have continued their retreat by the road. He was startled at the thought, and he jumped down from the fence. CHAPTER VI. A VICTIM OF STRATEGY. Almost at the same moment, it came to the active mind of Dory Dornwood that the burglars might have gone to the bay, and embarked in a boat. They were as likely to do this as they were to take to the road. He had heard nothing since the sound of the voice startled him, and the villains might be two or three miles from him by this time. It would not be pleasant for him, at the breakfast-table the next morning, to relate that he had got on the track of the robbers, and then entirely lost the clew to them. The thought of such a state of things annoyed him; and he decided that he should rather be shot, or at least be shot at, than subject himself to this degree of humiliation. But it was best to be prudent, even after he had decided to be shot at rather than be inactive any longer; and he walked some distance beyond the cart-path, to the northward.